Well guy's I have spent the last two weeks reviewing compressors and most importantly all of your suggestions. Just starting out I think I will go YH and from there see how much shooting I am going to get in. Ground squirrel hunting is my passion and that is why I have been so interested in filling my own bottles to take into the field with me. In the past I have stayed out three days on average and shot well over 600-900 of the little buggers., 300-400 per day.
The latest suggestion is the Omega Turbo charger, which I cannot falt but have to see for sure I will justify the cost. Lots of advantages to shooting squirrels with a rifle as quite as our air rifles over powder burners. I have .204, 223. 17 HMR and now with a change in Washington might make even more sense to lean more to air. Re filling tanks in the field I think is the answer which is why I just posted question as to a portable GENERATOR.
Choper
I think there three categories of PCP compressor buyers:
1. Buy cheap and throw away when it breaks, or repair it yourself.
2. Buy mid range and hope you get a good one and repair it yourself if and when it breaks.
3. Buy top end and hope that for all that money it runs and runs and doesn't break. If you have that much money to spend you can probably either afford the shipping to send it in for repairs or pay someone to fix it.
As I said I paid $3000.00 for a 80 gallon 7.5 HP Ingersol Rand shop air compressor and had it break twice in 3 years and ended up fixing it myself. What was I going to do - crate it up and freight it back at my expense for warranty work each time????? They certainly weren't going to send someone to my shop to fix it.
I think there three categories of PCP compressor buyers:
1. Buy cheap and throw away when it breaks, or repair it yourself.
2. Buy mid range and hope you get a good one and repair it yourself if and when it breaks.
3. Buy top end and hope that for all that money it runs and runs and doesn't break. If you have that much money to spend you can probably either afford the shipping to send it in for repairs or pay someone to fix it.
As I said I paid $3000.00 for a 80 gallon 7.5 HP Ingersol Rand shop air compressor and had it break twice in 3 years and ended up fixing it myself. What was I going to do - crate it up and freight it back at my expense for warranty work each time????? They certainly weren't going to send someone to my shop to fix it.
Deadonshot,
Personally, I don't believe in spending any money for equipment that might only last a year or two, especially $250-750 for a compressor. If a buyer was looking for any other type of shop equipment would anyone be satisfied for it to fail within the first two years? I woudn't. The problem with these little portable compressors is some owners use them to fill air tanks when they at best will only survive filling guns directly.
All machinery has a failure rate so one bad experience doesn't mean a model is faulty. In the past day or two there is a post about a compressor failure which may only be a bad motor capacitor. Medium price range compressors in the $1,000 -$2,000 do have a better track record than economy priced compressors but occasionally one does have a problem. People with failures sometimes post their experience at every opportunity when a new inquiry about their model is posted. Guys who don't have problems are less likely to post than people who have breakdowns. It's an imperfect world but it would be nice if we had statistics on actual sales of each model compressor to know what the true failure rate is.
I'd like to address point number 3 in Deadonshots post. I am one of the buyers of the high end compressors and I disagree completely with this statement. Buyers in the economy category in point number 1 "hope" their compressors work. Buyers who get dive quality compressors "expect" their compressors to work. Anyone who knows compressors can easily see the difference between an Alkin W31 vs. an Omega, Air Venturi, or anything in the lower priced compressor choices. It's like comparing the towing capacity of a Peterbilt semi truck to a Vespa scooter. Bauers, Alkins, and Coltris are used by dive shops, paintball fields, and fire departments. They are made for 8 hours a day tank filling applications. I'll run my Alkin for the next 10 years and if I sell it then I will have spent less time, recoup most of it's original cost, and had less to no repairs and headaches than someone who buys an economy compressor today but stays in the hobby for the next ten years. I'm not suggesting that everyone should do the same. Can my compressor fail? Possibly. Will it fail? Much less likely.
If I had to do it all over again I would just start with the ON SALE $2500 Coltri MCH6 from Nuvair at the very minimum and saved a crapload of $$$.
I paid over $3000 for my first Coltri MCH6 in fact it more than the Alkin and liked it so much I bought a second MCH6 Honda Gas version for portability but its super loud.
Good advice for those without mechanical knowledge. But, mechanical knowledge is ones personal responsibility, ignorance has a price.In a perfect world everyone can be like BigRagu or Humdinger and just rebuild the $1299-$1399 Air Venturi or Hatsan Lightning any time by just ordering the parts no problem but what about all of the rest who aren't mechanically inclined?
Say it's best case scenario it lasts 2.5 years assuming you paid $1500 including shipping and insurance. That's $600 a year for air. Those not mechanically inclined get to do it all over again drop another $1500 then what if this time it only lasts 1.5 years that's $1000 a year for air. Better off buying an Aliexpress 60 or 90 day warranty $200 Yong Heng with free shipping since even if it only lasts 6 months and breaks its ONLY LIKE you throw away $400 a year instead BEST OPTION.
OR buy with the Wal-Mart 4 year protection plan and keep getting FREE REPLACEMENTS shipped to you within every 4 years you get to keep the broken ones for parts and paper weights at roughly $65-$100 per year depends on the price you paid including 4 year $44.95 protection plan. Good to have $11.24 insurance per year right?
The best hobbies are endless gadget black holes.It has been fun reading all the comments. To me. If you own a Daystate or FX or some of the newer rifles, you are paying $2000-3000 for the gun. With scopes and accessories easily around $4k + total for the gun. Most of the people in this category will probably get a second gun of similar cost. The compressor is the cost of the second gun. Reality is with the higher end airguns to just get started with a good compressor, $7500-$10,000. Now if you are shooting PCP’s in the $700-$1500, range and only one gun, I feel the pricier compressors are a bit costly for what you are doing. You need to try and hope one of the lesser costly compressors work for you.
when I decided to finally get a compressor I went with the Daystate LC110. It broke 3 times in one year. Now I have an Alkin31 vertical. Going on two years. It just chugs along. I do change the oil twice a year. Why, to keep it happy. Oil is inexpensive.
Just last week, a fellow squirrel shooter asked me about getting into Airguns. He has the funds, but not sure he wants to spend the money when he can shoot them with his other rifles. I get it. This year I purchased a second tank to keep me shooting my Airguns longer in the field.
Bottom line. Have fun.
View attachment 342178
Yeah, and new air rifles too.One word of caution. I quickly found out that with endless air comes the need for endless lead.
You’ve been warned.![]()
I tend to agree with Odoyle based on all I have read and my experience with a Nomad compressor. They question is, does the Walmart 4 year protection plan really work? Do they either repair or replace the compressor within a reasonable time, to me that would be 21 days. Does anyone have any experience with this Walmart plan?Chinese compressors are made and built to be disposable. Know it and live with it you were warned. BUY the Wal-Mart 4 year protection plan if you buy ANY compressor of Chinese origin. Had a $2000 Omega fail twice in its early new condition first received was DOA FYI. Several others had paper weights right after the one year warranty was up $1800-$2000 Omegas also FYI at least one guy managed to sell his broken condition $2000 Omega just past warranty for $500 recently who recovered 1/4 of his cost back. A $2300 Chinese Coltri MCH6 clone failed shortly after a year FYI. What makes you think a cheaper $1200 Chinese compressor especially the same brand as these documented failed examples 18 months of light use or less then plain old KILLED OVER DEAD gonna be more reliable? BUY ANY BRAND CHINA COMPRESSOR FROM WALMART WITH 4 YEAR PROTECTION PLAN OR TAKE YOUR CHANCES ITS YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY TO FLUSH DOWN THE TOILET HOWEVER YOU PLEASE.
Even the $999 HILL UK brand had documented failures in their first month of use and a personal friend returned his for refund after less than one month after it failed. I'd buy the Hill if Wal-Mart sold it and offered the 4 year protection plan though. One year warranty simply ain't enough for ANY sub $2500 compressor realistically. You divide the cost by number of days before you throw it in the trash you be shocked after buying them added up you could have bought the $3300 Alkin in the first place.
Wait… what?One word of caution. I quickly found out that with endless air comes the need for endless lead.
You’ve been warned.![]()